Exorcia Obscura Marca
by lueche97
Summary: In their sixth year Draco accepts Dumbledore's offer of protection, Hogwarts is closed and used as the Order of Phoenix's headquarters. Hermione starts to train physically and magically and after a while she is joined by Draco. DMHG. May change to M
1. Chapter 1

**Hi people of fanfiction! Hope you like this story. Review please!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Harry Potter, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling. Lucky woman.**

_Chapter One_

"Draco, you don't have to do this." Dumbledore said softly.

"I do." He snarled, his face contorting with the gesture. "The Dark Lord is threatening me to kill my mother if I don't."

"We'll offer you protection. Join the Order." Dumbledore offered.

Under the Invisibility Cloak were Hermione and Harry in a body-bind. After Dumbledore's words Hermione would have gasped if she could, but being unable to do so, her eyes flew to Harry's. She found them looking at her with the same shocked expression.

Draco seemed to be considering the offer. He opened his mouth to answer and fell shut again. Moments later he narrowed his eyes at Dumbledore and asked. "I would accept, but I don't want to leave my friends behind, Theo, Blaise and Daph don't want this life either. It would be wrong of me to get out at any chance I get and leave them to rot and get the mark."

Hermione blinked several times at this new input of information. If she had understood correctly, Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret, not only cared for his mother but for some other people in Slytherin and would be willing to take the Dark Mark as to not leave them behind.

"We could protect them also." Dumbledore said automatically.

"Then I accept." Draco said firmly.

Dumbledore smiled his grandfather smile and turned towards Harry and Hermione, lifting the body-bind. They stood up, Harry folding the invisibility cloak and placing it inside his cloak.

"You three stay here." Dumbledore told them. "I'll ward the room so you stay safe."

"Sir?" Draco asked.

"Yes Draco?"

"I can signal Blaise, Theo and Daph to come. The Death Eaters won't attack them thinking they are on their side and the order won't either as they are students and don't bear the dark mark. If you could twist the wards so the three of them are allowed inside I'd be very grateful." Draco explained.

"Of course."

After he had warded the room with several complicated looking spells, he left them through the door. Hermione stood there awkwardly besides Harry, looking at Draco, then at Harry and then at her feet.

Draco pulled a chain with a snake in the end and clutched it inside his hand, thinking hard of a message, after he felt it burn he let it fall inside his shirt again, knowing the message 'found protection. Astronomy Tower' would tell his friends all they needed to know.

"You used the protean charm on the necklace?" Hermione said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Draco blinked up at her and answered carefully. "Yes, Theo looked up the enchantment, Daphne got the chains and snake charms and Blaise and I charmed them."

Hermione nodded and sat on the floor leaning against the wall. They had returned from the Horocrux hunt with Dumbledore and had noticed the Dark Mark above Hogwarts. The Headmaster had immediately found a way to come to the school, arriving at the top of the Astronomy Tower.

Draco was the one to break the silence this time. "Did you find the Horocrux?"

Hermione's head snapped up towards him as Harry shouted. "How do you know about that Malfoy?"

"I've been researching Potter." Draco snapped back, the same amount of animosity in his voice. "I insist with the question. Did you find it."

Harry seemed about to yell at him again so Hermione stood up and placed a hand on his arm, she evaluated Draco and answered, pulling the locket out of her robe. "We did."

Draco looked at the locket and groaned. "It had to be the bloody locket you found. It is a fake."

"What on earth do you mean Malfoy?" Harry asked in a clipped tone.

"I found the diary of Regulus Black, Sirius Black brother, in my parents room last year. He was my mother's cousin and left it to her before he went on the Horocrux hunt, he ended up destroying only the locket but finding out He had seven in total." Draco told them.

"Oh Merlin." Hermione said softly. "What are the others?"

"From what I read, there is the cup of Helga Hufflepuff which is in the Black family vault and Ravenclaw's Diadem which is somewhere in the castle. I'd bet anything that the snake he always has around him, Nagini, is another one." Draco said.

"Harry." Hermione said urgently.

"What?" He snapped, looking deep in thought.

"The diary of second year that had Riddle's memories and the ring you told me you found in Dumbledore's office destroyed on a charred area of his desk."

"You are right." Harry said. "That would only leave one to find what it is."

"Thank you Malfoy." Hermione said, addressing Draco. "Why are you telling us this?"

"I want this war over Granger, and I dislike the Dark Lord. I'd prefer it if the light side won." He nodded towards them and turned towards the door, leaning against the wall.

Hermione tugged Harry down with her and sat on the floor again, twiddling her wand between her fingers. Straining her ears she heard footsteps thundering up the stairs and pointed her wand at the door, her eyes unblinking. When it burst open she clutched it even harder, but noticing it was Draco's friends she relaxed.

Daphne launched herself at Draco and he caught her with open arms, hugging her close and burying his face in her black hair. Blaise and Theodore approached him and Theodore asked in a tentative voice. "Is it true? We no longer have to be Death Eaters?"

Draco looked up at Theodore and grinned happily, the first time Hermione saw him another type of emotion other that distaste or dislike. "It's true. Dumbledore offered protection for all of us, my mother included."

Blaise whooped loudly and Theodore laughed happily, both of them joining in the hug. Daphne looked up at Draco, tears falling down her face. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Draco shushed her and wiped her tears, smiling tenderly.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably and looked at Harry who looked just as uncomfortable as her. She had realized that the Slytherins seemed to have forgotten they were there and she no longer heard the sounds of battle. As this thought crossed her head, Ron's silver dog patronus bounded through the door and said "Battle's over. Dung is dead. Bill is injured but he will live. No more causalities. We are coming up, stay there."

Hermione let out a relieved sigh and pulled Harry up with her. The group of Slytherins let go of themselves and looked at the Gryffindor duo, Hermione smiled at them and Daphne smiled back, the others seemed to relax slightly.

The door opened once again and in filed Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna, the twins and the rest of Dumbledore's Army. After them came the adults of the Order, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Moody, Kingsley and the rest. Upon seeing Moody, Draco paled and took a minuscule step backwards which Hermione didn't fail to notice. Dumbledore came in last and closed the door behind him.

Ron immediately came over towards Harry and Hermione and the three of them hugged tightly. Hermione broke away first and asked. "What happened to Dung?"

"As soon as Moody let go of him when they Apparated here he bolted into the path of a killing curse fired by some Death Eater." Ron answered.

"And Bill?"

"Greyback got him." Ron growled. "He scratched the lower part of his face with his teeth until he reached the base of his neck. Fleur Stupefied him away from Bill. Greyback was human so Bill won't turn but he'll have cravings for rare steaks and will be in a small amount of pain in the full moon."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and felt Ron tense up. She followed his angry gaze towards the group of Slytherins who were looking at everyone warily. Ron's ears were beginning to turn red so Hermione quickly blocked his view of them and said hurriedly. "They are under the protection of the Order now."

"What?" He asked sharply.

"Dumbledore offered." Hermione explained. "I think they genuinely are grateful of it."

"Relax mate." Harry added as Dumbledore cleared his throat to speak.

"I'm sure you've all noticed the four Slytherin sixth years in the room. They are under the protection of the order along with Narcissa Malfoy whom Severus will be bringing into the castle tomorrow night. The rest of the students will be leaving the castle tomorrow morning in portkeys, I'd like it if the members of the Order and Dumbledore's Army would stay as Hogwarts will close and become the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, Grimauld Place will become a safe house to be used in emergencies." Dumbledore said.

Ron frowned at this and turned to glare at the group of Slytherins but Hermione slapped his arm and he turned to look at Dumbledore who was about to speak again. "If Harry, Hermione, Draco, Theodore, Blaise and Daphne can stay please."

This is clearly a dismissal so the members file out of the room, Ron sent Harry and Hermione one last look before he left to go with the rest of his family to be with Bill and Fleur in the Hospital Wing.

"Hermione please show Draco, Theodore, Blaise and Daphne to the Gryffindor common room, their things have already been moved to their rooms. Daphne will be sleeping in your room. Draco, Theodore and Blaise will be sleeping in the room next to Ron and Harry's." Dumbledore told them as soon as the door closed.

"Come along." Hermione said and left the room, tossing the locket to Harry.

As they walked through the halls, Daphne walked up to Hermione and fell into pace besides her. After some moments, Daphne said. "I think if we are to be sleeping in the same room we should leave our past problems behind." Hermione was startled by this offer to make peace so Daphne took her hesitation as a refusal and added. "Consider this an olive branch."

"No, no. I think you are right." Hermione answered hurriedly. "How do you know the term of the olive branch? It is a muggle term not many muggles understand."

Daphne smiled. "I read a book on muggle mythology once. I found it incredibly interesting. The olive branch comes from when Athena offered the olive tree to…"

"To the city of Athens so they chose her as a patron instead of Poseidon." Hermione finished. "I can't believe someone else knows the story!"

"Our little Daph here is obsessed with Greek and Roman mythology. You should hear her go on about it when she has made what she considers an 'amazing finding'." Theodore said, coming over to stand by Daphne and ruffling her hair.

"What?" Daphne asked. "I simply find it interesting. I don't tease _you _about your obsession with…"

Theo clamped a hand over her mouth and continued walking as if nothing was happening. In second Blaise was on Theodore's side and asking. "What obsession is she talking about?"

"Yeah Theo." Draco said. Walking next to Hermione.

"Nothing. Daphne wasn't talking about anything." Theodore said through clenched teeth.

Hermione grinned at the banter between them, they clearly cared about each other so they couldn't be as cold-blooded and bad as they seemed to be. They reached the portrait of the fat lady and she looked at the Slytherins warily. "Dearie?" She told Hermione. "What is going on?"

"They are under the protection of Dumbledore. The school will close and work as Headquarters for the Order so they will be rooming in the Gryffindor Tower." Turning to the Slytherins she said. "The password is gudryroots."

The portrait swung open and Hermione walked in, the Slytherins following closely after her. In seconds the noise in the Gryffindor common room died down until Seamus's voice rang out "What are they doing her 'Mione?"

That seemed to be the catalyst as everyone started to shout at the same time. Complaints rang out and Hermione's patience snapped. "OY YOU IDIOTS!" The noise died down abruptly and Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself down. "I've had a long day and I don't need this now. They are staying and that is final. Any complaints you go to Dumbledore. Now if you'll excuse me."

She pulled them along up the boy's staircases and opened the door next to Harry and Ron's room just like Dumbledore said. She ushered the males inside and tapped her wand against the door thrice, muttering "Homenum Repelo."

"What did you do?" Theodore asked from what Hermione supposed would be his bed.

"This is the Gryffindor Tower, the Weasly twins are staying here and they will try to prank you. The spell causes someone who wants to harm the habitants of the room to be unable to enter."

After a moment of silence Blaise spoke up. "Thanks Granger."

"You're welcome. Let's go show you your room Daphne." Hermione answered and walked out of the room, Daphne following behind her.

They got to their room and Hermione and Daphne walked in. Parvati and Lavander immediately bombarded them with questions and Hermione shot them a silencing charm. "If you want to answer their questions you remove the spell. I'm going to sleep. Only wake me up if someone is dying or dead."

With that she fell onto her bed and fell asleep in a matter of seconds.

**So, did you like it? What do you think of it? I can't know if you don't review. Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! I really hope you liked the first chapter of this story, here is the second one. Hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Harry Potter. I only own the plot and the characters you don't recognize.**

_Chapter 2_

The next morning Hermione woke up to someone tapping her foot, looking up from the covers she saw Lavander pointing at her throat and opening and closing her mouth, realizing that Daphne never took off the spell she flicked her hand her way and Lavander muttered a thank you before leaving with Parvati in tow.

Hermione tried to fall back to sleep but she couldn't so she stood up and walked into the bathroom, taking a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with her. Changing to her muggle attire she looked at herself in the mirror and tried to comb her hair so it lay a bit flatter, realizing it was an impossible task she left the bathroom and putting on some sneakers left the room.

When she was in the common room she saw Fred and George exiting with equally mischievous smiles and suppressed a groan. Go figure they would prank the Slytherins today. Trudging up the stairs she stopped in front of their room and took out her wand, saying "Objecto revelio."

An object blinked into existence above the door before disappearing seconds after, knowing the twins, the second someone opened the door it would spill something onto the head of the person exiting the room. To be on the safe side she conjured a bucket and made it hover in front of the door.

That was when she realized the flaw of her plans, she couldn't know if whatever was inside the object on top of the door was a liquid or if the bucket would work as she couldn't very well open the door. If it was a liquid it could be pointing towards the inside of the room as it could be pointing to the floor beside the stairs to prevent them from leaving.

Trying to get a closer look at whatever was above the door she levitated the bucket towards the object, trying to see if it would make any sounds. When the bucket went through thin air she frowned and shot water at the top of the door, when it didn't work either she dried the water off and tried sending a stinging hex and a stunner. As she expected nothing happened so she looked at the space trying to figure out what was there.

As she was trying to figure things out she placed the bucket in the air in front of the door and a couple of moments later the door opened, revealing Draco Malfoy. She was about to warn him when his head was covered with thick red slime that started to drip down his face, she looked at the bucket and realized it had held half of the slime inside before vanishing it.

"Wha.." Draco said, clearly confused.

"The Weasly twins." Hermione answered his unspoken question.

He nodded before looking back at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to leave when I saw the twins looking like they had just pulled a prank, figuring it was directed towards you three I came up here to see if I could do something about it." She explained. "As you can see, nothing I did worked."

"Okay. I'll go wash up." He said before turning into the room where she heard Blaise's laugh ringing in the room.

"Malfoy!" She called out as he was going to close the door. "The slime leaves a red stain wherever it has touched, skin, hair or clothes. The stain vanishes in a week but don't try to remove it before, it only lengthens the time the stain stays on you." She told him before leaving down the stairs.

She laughed lightly when she heard him groan and exited the common room, making her way to the Great Hall. She walked in and slid into a seat next to Fred and Ron, smacking Fred and George at the back of the head as she sat down.

"Hey!" George yelped.

"What was that for?" Fred asked.

"You know very well why that happened. Why did you have to go and hex the Slytherins? Dumbledore basically entrusted them to me! It will look bad on me!" Hermione glared at them. Then her expression turned thoughtful. "Well… I _could _tell your mother."

Their expressions soon turned from amused to alarmed and George scrambled from his seat to shove Ron from her side and sit next to her, placing an arm around her shoulders as Fred snaked an arm across her waist.

"'Mione." George began.

"Herms."

"Hermy."

"Mya."

"Hermione."

"Why would you tell on us?"

"It was only a harmless joke…"

"Besides. Don't you want to see Malfoy stained red?" Fred finished with a wink.

She growled low in her throat and pried their arms of her body. "I would tell on you because I can and I know it would give you trouble." Then she cracked. "But then again, I also want to see how red looks on Malfoy."

"Yes! We knew you loved us." Fred said triumphantly.

"Who said anything about love?" Hermione asked drily. Finishing her breakfast she bid them goodbye and started walking towards Dumbledore's office. If they were going to accept a war had started then she would go along with her plan.

When she got there Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his blue eyes staring at her seriously. "Are you sure you wish to do this Miss Granger?"

"I have thought it through." She answered. She had come to Dumbledore with her plan a couple of weeks ago. "Could I borrow your Floo and some Floo powder please?"

"Of course. The powder is beside the fireplace." He said kindly. "I'll open the Floo when I receive your patronus, an otter right?"

Hermione smiled at him and nodded and walked towards the fireplace, taking some Floo powder and throwing it in. She stepped in when the flames were green and said in a clear voice "Granger home!" When she walked into her house she heard voices in the kitchen, she recognized them as her parents and Connie's parents.

She walked towards the kitchen and stopped at the door. Locking eyes with Connie she beckoned her outside and she saw her make her excuses with a smile and left the kitchen. When she was out, her smile fell and she embraced Hermione tightly, both letting some tears fall before straightening themselves up and smiling sadly.

"How did you know I was coming today?" Hermione asked.

"We heard about the Death Eater attack and I supposed you'd do it today." She said quietly, sneaking looks to the kitchen to see if the adults heard.

"So, Australia?"

"Why not the USA? Farther and less likely that they looked there, Australia's wizarding population is most likely to get involved in the war and they could be found out." Connie explained.

"We send them together." Hermione said firmly and Connie nodded.

They started walking towards the kitchen but before they could go in Hermione grabbed Connie's arm. "Order protection?"

"Please." She said more quietly.

"Wait a second then." Hermione quietly sent a patronus to Dumbledore requesting protection for her cousin and then turned to face the door. "Now."

Sending silent stunners, they got Connie's parents because they were magical first and before Hermione's mother could scream or her dad get the gun he had in his belt for cases like this they stunned them too. Connie walked over to her parents holding Hermione's hand for support and with tears streaming down her face she obliviated their memories of her and Hermione, Hermione did the same for her parents, her eyesight blurring because of her tears.

"Your names are Tom Wilkins and you are his wife Monica Peters, you are the twin brother of John Wilkins who is married to Jessica Andrews. You are traveling to USA because you are professional photographers and there are more things to photograph there. You don't want children." Connie told them.

Hermione grabbed Connie's bags and walked with her to the fireplace, "You go first."

Connie nodded and squeezed Hermione's hand before stepping into the fireplace and shouting. "Hogwarts!" She was gone in a burst of green flames.

Hermione looked around one last time and summoned with her wand a backpack she had made before she went to Hogwarts, it had some memories of her and her family and some things she wanted to keep. She stepped into the swirling green fireplace and shouted "Hogwarts!"

When she finished spinning she got out of the fireplace and gave Connie her luggage. They both turned towards Dumbledore and Hermione cleared her throat before introducing Connie, "Professor Dumbledore this is my cousin Connie, Connie this is Professor Dumbledore."

"Professor, I know Hermione probably hasn't spoken about me but I am her cousin and if it not much of a problem I'd like to join the Order of Phoenix." Connie said firmly.

Dumbledore smiled kindly. "Of course you may join, Miss Granger please take Miss Granger to the Gryffindor Tower so she can settle down."

"Yes sir." Hermione answered, laughing slightly.

They walked out of Dumbledore's office together, Hermione levitating the luggage in front of them. She looked sideways at Connie who was looking at the castle in awe and grinned, it felt great to have her cousin here with her. "So Connie, how has your last month been? I'm sorry I didn't reply to your letter."

"Don't worry Mi. It's been fine, Rachel was withdrawn from school as well. It's ridiculous really, up there in France the war hasn't even broken out! Those veela mothers are way overprotective." Connie told her.

"Con, your mum is half-veela." Hermione muttered.

"Yeah, that's exactly why I said it." Connie said cheerfully. "No, but really, mum was a couple of days away from taking me out of school."

"Oh." Hermione said quietly.

"So what happened last night?" Connie asked Hermione, lowering her voice slightly.

"Dumbledore took Harry and me to a cave because he thought there was a Horocrux there but Malfoy told us it was a fake, it also seems like Helga Hufflepuff's cup and Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem and his snake are also Horocruxes. We need to find out which is the seventh one." Hermione answered.

"Did I hear someone mention me? Granger, have you found a way to duplicate yourself so you can have friends?" Hermione heard Malfoy say.

"Malfoy." She said drily. Both her and Connie turned to face him and Draco started before smoothing his features to his unfeeling mask.

"This is the Draco Malfoy you always rant about?" Connie asked Hermione so only she could hear. Hermione nodded. "You forgot to mention he was good looking." Hermione elbowed Connie and sent her a scathing look. It was ridiculous to think of the self-centered prat as good looking, but that was Connie.

"Granger, you got the duplicate wrong. Her eyes are the wrong color." Malfoy told her. Hermione contained a snort, her cousin and her were identical except that Connie had deep blue eyes instead of brown eyes like her.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him and said. "This is Connie, my cousin. She is a half-blood. Connie, that prat over there is Draco Malfoy." Ignoring Malfoy, she pulled Connie with her and continued walking towards the Gryffindor common room.

Her cousin and her continued the rest of the walk in a companionable silence only broken when Hermione told the Fat Lady the password. Hermione took Connie to her room and pointed her to a bed. "You'll be sleeping there. We better head down for lunch."

"Hermione?" Connie asked her as they walked out of the common room. "Could you show me a passageway to the Great Hall? I've been dying to use those since you told me about them."

Laughing slightly, Hermione walked straight through the bare patch of wall beside the portrait of the Fat Lady's best friends. When Connie didn't follow her she peeked out and tugged her hand. "You coming?"

"Um… yeah, sure." Connie said uncertainly and followed her through the wall. They appeared in another corridor and Hermione could see the doors of the Great Hall right in front of her.

"Just so you know Con, that passageway works only to come here. Don't try to walk through it to the Gryffindor common room." Hermione warned Connie and pushed the doors of the Great Hall open, only to be met with the stares of the whole hall.

Connie and Hermione looked up at Dumbledore and he looked at them, smiling slightly with that twinkle in his eyes. "Ah, yes. As I was saying, this is Miss Connie Granger and she will be a member of the order from now on. Please Miss Granger and Miss Granger, take a seat."

Blushing furiously at being the center of attention, Hermione and Connie ducked their heads and walked straight to the middle of the Gryffindor table, Hermione taking a seat next to Harry and Connie one in between Hermione and Ron. Hermione raised her head and smiled awkwardly as she was met with accusing stares from both Harry and Ron, she guessed they were upset because she had never told them about her cousin. "Hi guys. This is my cousin Connie."

**Tada! There goes the second chapter. Review please so you can tell me what you think of it!**

**Thanks to **_**Nightmare's Depths, Cap'n Jade Sparrow, Nicnak24, karina97**_**, **_**cmour45**_** and **_**Rain Drops and Lightning Rods **_**for adding my story to your favorites. Thanks to **_**spam3**_** and **_**Rain Drops and Lightning Rods**_** for adding it to your alerts. And thanks to **_**karina97**_** for reviewing.**


	3. Chapter 3

** So sorry for the long wait! I had to start school and teachers started bloody bombarding us with homework! Hope you like it and review!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, Fred and Sirius wouldn't be dead.**

_Chapter 3_

"You never told us you had a cousin Hermione." Harry said quietly, his voice accusing.

"I-I guess I never…" Hermione stuttered, why had she never told them? Oh yeah, Connie asked her to.

"I asked her not to tell." Connie intervened. "I knew she was friends with you two and I didn't want my name to be known, if someone linked that we were cousins, which I doubt, my name could have gone out in that newspaper of yours like Hermione's did."

Of course Harry and Ron weren't accepting this completely when they were in this state. They huffed and turned back to their food, ignoring the girls beside them. Connie shot Hermione an apologetic look but she brushed it off and reached for the drumsticks, motioning to Connie to start eating.

After a slow, uncomfortable lunch, the food was cleared from the table and Dumbledore cleared his throat. "If you would all stand up please." Everyone stood up and Dumbledore raised his wand and waved it. The tables all vanished and a new one appeared in the middle of the Great Hall that was big enough to house all the order. "Now we can sit down again."

Hermione took a seat beside Connie and noticed that Daphne took the seat in front of her, she grinned at the Slytherin girl and she smiled back "Daphne, this is my cousin Connie Granger. Con, this is Daphne Greengrass."

"Nice to meet you Connie." Daphne said smiling.

"Yeah, nice to meet you." Theodore butted in.

Daphne smirked and rolled her eyes. "This pest over here is Theodore Nott."

"Nice to meet you two." Connie said, smiling slightly.

"Now." Dumbledore started again and their attention was drawn back to him, thought Hermione could see Theodore stealing looks at Connie every now and then. "As you can see the students of Hogwarts have left. The members of the order will be living in the Gryffindor Tower from now on and I have asked the Fat Lady to have no password to the common room so that it will be easier for everyone. If anyone wished to practice with a teacher or go over any subject they will be pleased to help. The Quidditch pitch is open for everyone, as are the potions classes and the ingredients thought you must tell a teacher you are going to use them."

As everyone took in the news Dumbledore smiled slightly and said. "You are free to do as you wish." Then he left in a flurry of his robes.

Hermione smiled and excused herself before leaving as well and going to the library. Phase 2 of her plan was going to start and she wasn't going to let anyone deter her. Walking in she nodded towards Madam Pince who nodded her head back and headed over to the Transfiguration section.

She had made a "war plan" just after the start of her sixth year when she read about the muggle attacks. Her parents would possibly be targets and she knew she was barely ready for a war and she wanted to make it out alive of this one. Phase 1 consisted on making sure her parents were safe, that was why she sent them away. Phase 2 consisted on expanding her knowledge on every subject that she thought relevant and she was starting on this phase right now. Phase 3 was going to be more taxing, she wanted to improve her physical condition as she wasn't very sportive and would probably need to run in a battle, it was also known that the more physical endurance you had the more magical endurance you had and she would need that if she was ever tortured. Phase 4 would be to find a place where she could carry thing she would need to heal other people like potions and such and to carry thing that could help her out of tricky situations like a broom or a rope.

Sighing she looked over the titles of the books and passed her finger along them. There was nothing new for her to read, most of the books there were of common spells. Animagus transfiguration would be nice to know, she pulled the book on Advanced Human Transfiguration and leafed through the pages to see if there was something useful. The topic was mentioned briefly but there was nothing to help her through the transformation, she ought to ask McGonagall about it, the transfiguration teacher would probably know how to help.

She pulled a tome on combat transfiguration with a curious look on her face, she had passed this section countless times but she had never seen this book in the library. Tucking it under her arm she continued on with her search.

"If you are looking for more knowledge to stuff into your bushy head Granger then I suggest you read that book a bit to your top left. It tells on how to transfigure a massive amount of objects at the same time, I found it interesting." Came a voice to her right, just behind her. She spun to look at the speaker and glared at Malfoy when she saw him.

"Thank you Malfoy." She said tightly, but took the book he suggested anyways. She continued walking and tried to ignore the blonde behind her. He was trailing behind her and Hermione was getting annoyed. "Why are you following me?"

"Why do you suggest I am following you? I am merely walking in the library looking for a good read, I am coincidentally looking in the same places as you but that doesn't mean I'm following you." He shot back.

"Malfoy." Hermione warned. "I know you are following me. What do you want?"

"I'm bored." He answered with a shrug.

"I'm not your personal clown." Hermione told him. "Go bother one of your Slytherin friends."

"Blaise and Theo are in the Quidditch Pitch and Daphne is getting acquainted with you cousin. That leaves me with nothing to do and as I don't want to be walking around on my own I decided to look for the person that annoys me the least in this castle and isn't indisposed. That person happened to be you." He answered.

Hermione sighed through her teeth and turned to face him as he clearly wasn't going away. "As much as it flatters me to be the person who doesn't annoy you and isn't indisposed,"

"The least annoying. You still annoy me." He corrected.

"I am indisposed. I am about to start reading and I'd appreciate it if you left." Hermione finished, ignoring his correction.

With that she spun on her heels and went to find Madam Pince to ask if she could borrow these books. After a while she heard footsteps behind her and she sighed in aggravation. Malfoy was a pest. When Madam Pince told her she could take the books she walked out of the library and to the Gryffindor common room, she could probably loose Malfoy if she went up to the girls rooms.

As she was walking to the common room with Malfoy trailing behind her, whistling, she found Connie and Daphne. They looked like they were gossiping by the looks on their faces. Hermione immediately went over to them and sent Daphne a pleading look. "Please Daphne, I beg you, I can't stand him."

She smirked and looked over to the smug looking Malfoy. "No way in hell. We barely got rid of him in the first place."

Hermione groaned and Daphne patted her shoulder, wished her the very best of luck and was on her way. Malfoy trotted up to her and grinned at her. "Looks like your plan failed Granger."

"Yeah, yeah." She grumbled. "On to plan 2."

"What was that?" He asked, Hermione only glared at him and adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

"Bugger off Malfoy." Hermione muttered.

"Why should I?" He answered.

"Why on earth are hanging out with me in the first place?" Hermione asked as he turned to face him with her hands on her hips.

"I'm bored." Was his simple response.

"We are not starting that again." Hermione said seriously and Malfoy only smiled cockily at her. "Why me. We don't get along, we never have because you have called me a mudblood countless times, so why are you hanging out with me, a mudblood." Malfoy cringed almost invisibly at the word but Hermione saw the slight movement and the twist of his features and she frowned at him. "What? Now you can't even hear it said?"

"Granger, don't say that word again, especially not about yourself." He told her.

Hermione snorted and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Why the sudden change of heart?" Malfoy remained quiet and she fixed him with a stony glare. "Okay then." She spun around and started walking the other way, change of plans, she was going to the Room of Requirement maybe she could get some peace there.

She heard a sigh from behind her but she didn't look at him as she heard someone walking slowly towards her. "Granger" Malfoy whined. She ignored him and continued walking towards the Room of Requirement. "Oh come on Granger." He placed a hand on her shoulder and spun her around to face him. "I-I" he took a deep breath before continuing. "You are Hermione Granger, I know you have a plan to get ready for the war and I want in. I apologize for having called you a mudblood all these years, it was wrong and spiteful of me. Could we start again?"

Hermione blinked and laughed slightly at the weirdness of the situation. Draco Malfoy was asking for her help and apologizing, who knew this day would come? Looking at him carefully she smiled softly at him and struck out her hand. "I'm Hermione Granger, nice to meet you."

He laughed as well and shook her hand. "Draco Malfoy."

They walked together to the Room of Requirement and Hermione asked him, "Hey Malfoy, really, what brought on this change?"

"Draco." He said automatically.

"Draco it is." Hermione said uncomfortably, his name weird on her tongue.

"I guess it came along gradually, I never… when He asked me to torture the first time I did it willingly, I was glad to do it even." He looked sick when he said this. "Midway the torture the person's blindfold came off and I recognized him, he was a squib I had seen countless times fixing the gardens in my manor, he had never done anything wrong, he had even done my family something good, a service. Yet I was being asked to torture him."

Hermione nodded at his words and then she turned towards the wall where the door to the Room of Requirement would be appearing, she closed her eyes and wished for a space to train for war, pacing thrice along the wall she opened her eyes when she heard the door click into place. She turned to Mal… Draco, who looked pensive and motioned him to come in. He blinked at her before following her in.

Hermione took in their surroundings and grinned, there was a small space to the right to read some books comfortably, what looked like a bulletin board over a long table with medical tools, there was a circular area to the left where Hermione supposed they would train magically. At the far back of the room was something Hermione didn't expect, there were muggle weapons on a corner and a small place to use them, those could come in handy.

Turning back to Draco she smiled slightly, "Well… I guess we start then."

**This was shorter than usual I know. Blame school! Hope you liked it and review! The more reviews the quicker I update!**

**Thanks to **_**pinkcrazyness, tacker23 **_**and **_**CrazyAvidReader **_**for adding my story to your favourites. Thanks to **_**dragoness101, pinkcrazyness, Beautiful-Liar13 **_**and **_**Rhiannon the Mage **_**for adding my story to your alerts. And thanks to **_**pinkcrazyness **_**for reviewing!**


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